Prep tips and ideas for easy meal prep needed!!

Hi my husband and I have been doing the Paleo diet for over 3 months. He's lost over 20lbs and I've lost over 10lbs. The problem is the amount of cooking prep and clean up. The SAD diet was a lot easier on my time ie throw a frozen pizza or lasagna in the oven etc and I want to reclaim that but I need to figure out how. I have started using my food processor more than ever before for chopping onions in bulk and flash freezing fruit but I need more ideas or websites on how to save time prepping and cleaning as it can be very demotivating cleaning till 9pm most nights. I have three kids and keeping up after them is a challenge enough. :) thanks for taking the time to answer.

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Answers

There is no reason it needs to take longer than throwing a lasagna in the oven if you plan ahead enough. Get the whole family involved in the prep work too if you can, so you aren't stuck in the kitchen all alone, and the kids can learn how to cook.

Make one day of the week when you do almost all of your cooking, and cook up things that store well, for example:

pot roast

chili

meatloaf

spaghetti squash with marinara

a whole turkey

a cookie sheet of bacon

a dozen hard boiled eggs

a crock pot of broth for instant stews

a coconut curry soup

Then prepare your fresh veggies, so you can grab and go:

make celery sticks

buy a bag of baby carrots or make carrot sticks

buy a large container of prewashed baby greens or wash and dry your own lettuce

chop up other veggies like peppers you like into snack sized pieces

wash, dry, and chop fresh herbs that you'll be using like cilantro and parsley

stock the freezer with frozen spinach, kale, and squash cubes

For fruit, just keep a fruit bowl around, or stock up on frozen berries

That should keep you covered whenever you need to throw something together in an instant, and then on the nights you feel like cooking you could make really simple things like pan fried steak, or oven baked fish, along with oven baked root veggies like beets, potatoes, rutebegas, turnips, etc. And throw a salad together from what you have prepped, or toss a package of frozen veggies into the baking dish with the fish.